Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-01-15

ne cross bleed. They can, like Paul
the Apostle, write on their heaviest
troubles eight" and ''but for a mo-
ment." The darkest night their soul
is jrradiated, ms was the night over
Bethlehem, by the faces Of those who
have come to proclaim glory and good
cheer. They are only waiting for the
gate to open, and the chains 10 fall of,
and the glory to begin.
/ remark again; There are many
(and ] wish there were more) who are
estimating life by the amount Of good
they a do. John Bradford said he
counted that day nothing at all in
which he had not, by pen or tongue.
done some good. If a man begin right,
| cannot tell how many tears he may
wipe away, how many burdens he may
lift, how many orphans he may COM
fort, how many outcasts he may re-
claim.
There have been men who have
given their whole life in The right di-
r%ection, concentrating all their wit and
ingenuity, and mental ac1men, and
physical force and enthusiasm for
Christ. They climbed the mountain,
and delved into the mine, and crossed
the sea, and trudged the desert, and
dropped, at last, into martyrs graves,
waiting for the resurrection of the just.
They measured their lives by the chains
they broke of, by the garments they
put upon nakedness, by the miles they
travelled to alleviate every kind of SUI
fering.
Now, ! don't know what your adj
vantages or disadvantages are; | do
not know what your tact or talent is;
| do not know what may be the fasci-
nation of your manne or the repuls-
~iveness of them; but | know this: there
is for you, my nearer, u field TO cul-
ture, a harvest to reap, a tear to wipe
away,
SOUL TO SAVE.
If you have worldly means, consecrate
them to Christ. If you have ~eloquence
use it on the side that Paul and VII
berforce used theirs. If you have
learning, put it into the poor-boX of
the worlds suffering. But if you have
none of ~these-neither wealth, nor clo-
quence, nor bennington at any rate
have Il smile with which you can en-
courage the disheartened; n frown
with which you NAV blast injustice; n
voice with which you may call the
wanderer back to God. ''O," you say:
'"that is Il very sanctimonious view of
life!' 1t is not. 1t is the only bright
view of life, and it is the only bright
view of death. Contrast the death
scene of a man who has measured life
by the worldly standard, and the death
scene of a man who has measured life
by the Christian standard.
Quinn, the actor, in his last
moments said: Il hope this tragic
scene will soon be over, ana | hope to
keep my dignity to the last" Nal
herbe said in his last moments to the
confessor, Hold your tongue! your
miserable style puts me out OF conceit
with heaven" Lord Chesterfield in
his last moments, when he ought to
have been praying for his soul, both
cred himself about the propricties of
the sick room. and said: GIVE Day
boles IA chair Godfrey Kncller spent
his last hours IL drawing
A DIAGRAM OF HIS OWN MONUMENT.
Compare tie silly and horrible depart
ure of such men with the seraphic glow
on the face of Edward Payson, as he
said in his last moment; The breezes
of heaven fan me. / float in 4 sea of
glory" Or, with Paul, the apostle
who said in his last hour: II am now
ready to be offered up, and the time of
my departure is at hand. | have fought
the good fight, | have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the Righteous Judge, will give me"
Or compare it with the Christian death
bed that you witnessed IN your own
household.
Now let me ask you all: Have you
made any preparation for the future?
You have made preparation for time,
my dear brothers; have you made any
preparation for eternity? Do o won
der that when that mar on the Hudson
river, in Indignation, tore up the tract
lldl NbS uiluSb w Nun, dliN Jusb oit
word landed on his coat sleeve the
rest of the tract being pitched into the
river-that one word aroused his soul?
1t was that one word, so long, so
broad, so high, so deep, eternity A
dying woman, in her last moments,
said: Call it back?' They said:
'What do you want?" Time" she
said; ''call it backI' Oh, it cannot be
called back! We might lose our for
tunes and call them hack; we might
lose our health and perhaps recover it;
we might lose our good nam and get
that back; but
/ GONE is GONE FOREVER.
To all Christians, it is a tine Of
gladness. | am glad the years are go
ing. You are coming on nearer
home. Let your c~ountenancc light
m with the THOUGHT. Nearer hOmct